New York Times Notable Book of the YearPeople Magazine Book of the WeekA--Entertainment WeeklyNew York Public Library Book to Remember

“The Dress Lodger is as unsettling as it is brilliant. Holman attempts Herculean feats of plot and character, and the resulting novel is seamlessly crafted and deserving of wide acclaim and readership. ” --The Washington Post Book World

“The Dress Lodger not just a first-rate entertainment but a moving, enlightening one as well.” —Jason K. Friedman, The San Francisco Chronicle

“Potent historical fiction . . . Beautifully written . . . A rich read with a Dickensian kick and a moral to be told.” --USA Today

“In The Dress Lodger, Sheri Holman brings to new realms the ambition and gusto she exhibited so dazzlingly in her debut novel, A Stolen Tongue. . . . If she flirts with melodrama, it is only in the way that Wuthering Heights does, or the novels of Dickens: that is, it is merely the exuberance of an outstandingly generous and fertile imagination. The Dress Lodger is an even better book than Holman’s first, with prose that’s more limber and vivid—and with, appropriately enough, more heart.” —Annette Kobak, The New York Times Book Review

It's a gorgeously written study not just of the defiant Gustine and the arrogant Chiver but of the time — and the leftover people sacrificed to progress. A--Gillian Flynn, Entertainment Weekly

“If Clive Barker ever writes a historical novel, he’ll be hard pressed to invent horrors more lurid than the rotting corpses and dangling viscera that grace, so to speak, this lurid and fascinating second novel from Holman. . . An atmospheric tale that may have readers gasping for air. . . Another stunner from a gifted and versatile new master of historical fiction.” --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Brilliantly stark portrayal of 19th-century urban life, class warfare, cruel medicine and encroaching pestilence. . . . With remarkable breadth and depth, the narrative vividly portrays the human suffering spawned by the early Industrial Revolution. . .. Holman . . . delivers a wealth of morbid, authentic detail, as well as an emotional pivot in her captivating Moll Flanders–like heroine. The major characters are buttressed by a vivacious cast of minors. . . Holman’s style is risky and direct, treating scenes of Gustine’s quick, humiliating back-alley couplings as well as the doctor’s hypocritical sleaze, with unflinching emotional precision. This dazzlingly researched epic is an uncommon read.” --Publishers Weekly [starred review]

“The Dress Lodger is Dickensian in a truer sense. . . . In another 100 years, “Holmanian” may be a short form for tragic thriller, or some such unhelpful sub-category. But for the time being, we can simply appreciate this fine novelist’s work on its own terms.” —Andrew Pyper, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“With shades of Caleb Carr, Holman digs us up an atmosphere and character while she’s unwinding her merciless plot—should anyone really trust a surgeon with no heart?—and the results are both thrilling and, well, sort of yucky. A fine effort.” —Susan Hall-Balduf, The San Diego Union Tribune

“Quite Dickensian, in the best sense . . . This is one of those historical novels which has a passionate, angry feel to it, making it more than entertainment (though it is certainly entertaining).” —Margaret Forster